Ann Parker

About the Author

Ann Parker earned degrees in Physics and English Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, before falling into a career as a science writer nearly 30 years ago. The only thing more fun for her than slipping oblique William Butler Yeats references into a fluid dynamics article is delving into the past. Her ancestors include a great-grandfather who was a blacksmith in Leadville, a grandmother who worked at the bindery of Leadville's Herald Democrat newspaper, a grandfather who was a Colorado School of Mines professor, and another grandfather who worked as a gandy dancer on the Colorado railroads.

Her Silver Rush historical mystery series, published by Poisoned Pen Press, is set in the silver boomtown of Leadville, Colorado, in the early 1880s. The first in the series, Silver Lies, won a Willa Award for Historical Fiction and the Colorado Gold Award. Silver Lies was chosen a "best mystery of 2003" by Publishers Weekly and The Chicago Tribune, and was a finalist for the 2003 Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery Award as well as for the 2004 Western Writers Association Spur Award for Best Novel of the West.

Iron Ties is the sequel to Silver Lies. In its starred review, Publishers Weekly says, "Parker's outstanding second Silver Rush mystery finds her heroine, Inez Stannert, corset-deep in the intrigues of Leadville, Colo. . . . Plenty of convincing action bodes well for a long and successful series." Booklist adds, "This sequel to the critically acclaimed Silver Lies will not disappoint Parker's fans. . . . The characters have depth, their motivations are subtle, and their pain very human. Add carefully researched and fascinating period details, and one has a well-crafted novel that will appeal to readers of mysteries, historical fiction, and genre westerns."

Ann is a member of the National Association of Science Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, Historical Novel Society, Women Writing the West, and Western Writers of America. Ann, her husband, and their two children reside in the San Francisco Bay Area, whence she has observed numerous high tech boom-and-bust cycles.